Approximately 30 days after the Democratic Primary, we now officially know who will be the newest Mount Vernon City Council members. The primary election is finally over. It was close and is a testament to the phrase every vote counts.
André Wallace, the former Mayor had a 3 vote deficit at the conclusion of the re-canvass by the Westchester County Board of Elections which concluded its re-canvass, Thursday, July 22nd. Prior to the re-canvass Mr. Wallace was just one vote shy of a tie and two votes away from victory. The closest opponent was Cathlin Gleason who ultimately won the third and final council seat.
“I wish to congratulate Cathlin winning a tight race and wish her well!” Wallace shares with Black Westchester. “Although we were opponents, I never lost sight of the fact that we both hail from this great city and we both are deeply disturbed about the dysfunctional governing under the current administration. Congratulations as well to Edward [Poteat] and Danielle [Browne] who both ran a very good campaign. I am sure together with Cathlin, they will bring some fresh ideals and bring balance and stability to the council and not act as surrogates for anyone but the citizens of the city of Mount Vernon.”
Wallace will not be challenging the results in court, but is very thankful to all those who cast their vote for him.
“I would like to thank the one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven residents who voted for me! Most importantly, if you ever think that your vote does not matter, in this race it did come down 3 which is extremely close. On that note, thank you to a dear 88-year-old lady who’s vote was not counted because she wrote on the ballot (an archaic law dating back to Tammany Hall days where people were paid for their vote and left a mark to prove they voted for who they were being paid to vote for) after crossing out mistakes but voted for me and wrote that out and signed the ballot to be sure her vote would be counted. If that was the deciding factor, my attorney felt confident that ultimately her vote would have been counted after a lengthy and costly court proceeding which I was willing to undertake for the good of our democratic system of fairness and justice in the election process,” Wallace added.
Wallace also thanked the Democratic Chair and the City Democratic Committee.
“Finally I would like to thank Chairman Reggie Lafayette and the City Democratic Committee for giving me the opportunity to run as their endorsed candidate along with my fine running mates Janice Duarte and Lauren Carter. Thank you to my wife and family for the emotional support I needed and for their counsel in making the decision to end my race. Speaking for myself, I plan to stay active and involved in the daily life of our city and its politics and look forward to seeing progress which all the residents so desperately want and not business as usual,” Wallace shared.
